Apprenticeship: Politics, Education, or Reality Television?

International competition drives schools and universities around the world as never before, and an increasingly complex world places more demands for evidence of qualifications and standards. Clashes with constraints of state funding created enormous pressures and educators struggle with their own skills and approaches. New technology, such as massive open online courses (MOOCs), threatens to disrupt the foundations of traditional ‘chalk and talk’. More than half of the Eurozone’s young workers are in temporary jobs and the UK seems to have a talent mismatch between skills on offer and what employers need. Amidst the challenges, the changes, and the confusion, what can be done? How can medieval-type apprenticeships become an increasingly important part of a modern answer? The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Dr Andrew Parmley, will explore the historical background to apprenticeships, their importance over the centuries, and their relevance to the future. He will set out how apprenticeships can rise to the challenges of modern education in a modern society, provide training for working life, and benefit apprentices themselves throughout their lives. You can read more about the City of London's The City's Business programme here, which looks at how businesses can support young people to develop skills for work.

Alderman Dr Andrew Parmley was elected Lord Mayor of the City of London on 29th September 2016 and will take office as the 689th Lord Mayor on the 11th November.

Andrew was born in Manchester and grew up in Lancashire. He was educated at Blackpool Grammar School, the Royal Academy of Music, at Manchester and London Universities and Jesus College, Cambridge.

Dr Parmley has had a career in the business end of the education sector. He is the City Champion for the Prime Minister’s Apprenticeship Delivery Board (which will create three million apprenticeships over the next five years) and is the Principal of Senior School of The Harrodian School in West London. Andrew has interests in educational technology, particularly the creation of Virtual Learning Environments (VLE), in FinTech and in cybercrime, having spoken at the Cambridge International Symposium on Economic Crime.

Andrew is the London Symphony Orchestra’s International Ambassador, a Visiting Professor of the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, and he holds an Honorary Doctorate from Strathclyde University in recognition of his work for the City of London and the financial contribution of the arts. He has served as the Chairman of the City of London School for Girls and the Guildhall School of Music, both leading UK academic institutions.

He was, until recently, the national Chairman of Montessori in the UK, representing some 700 schools. At the Harrodian School, Andrew has been instrumental in developing a multi-million pound business and recently opened two new schools - with a further three planned in the near future. He has worked closely with The Global Education and Leadership Foundation (tGELF), based in Delhi, and the Transcontinental Schools Innovation Alliance (TSIA).

The Rt Hon The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Dr Andrew Parmley

Ladies and Gentlemen.

I am delighted to see so many of you here today, I’ve been told that this lecture “sold out” (which is quite surprising as tickets are free) at a record pace and left some disappointed- let’s hope you’re not amongst them in an hour’s time. Who knew that my northern drawl would appeal to so many?

Who am I kidding? It’s not me you are here to see. I know you have come to hear the fascinating history of Apprenticeships.

And you are not the only people with an interest in Apprenticeships. Indeed the 45th president of the United States used to host the American version of “The Apprentice”. More “you’re tweeted” than “you’re fired”.

So, the Apprentice- Reality Television, Politics or Education?

The first thing I would like to do is get an idea of who is present today.

Could you please raise your hand if, like me, you are a Teacher?

Please raise your hand if you are:

- Parent

- Student

- Policy Maker

- Employer

- Apprenticeship Training provider

- Currently or previously an Apprentice

Fantastic! It’s good to see that we have such a diverse audience!

And what an excellent location in which to host you all here today.

Some of you will know that the City of London is linked very closely to the Apprenticeship movement. Indeed, the Guildhall Library, just across the yard, has an excellent pre-1800 Apprenticeship resource, where you can learn more about different types of Apprenticeship – common in London over two hundred years ago. Many people also use this resource to find out about their ancestors – and if you have an interest in this area, then please do visit the library and have a browse.

One thing you will most certainly discover, is that The City of London’s Liveries and Guilds were at the centre of formal Apprenticeships in the 1700s and 1800s.

At the time, London’s 85 Liveries (or trade associations) acted as regulators of the London Apprenticeship market and used Apprenticeships to ensure their trades received the skills they required.

The Livery companies were the driving force of Apprenticeships in London and assisted in making it a centre for training; with London, not surprisingly, hosting the highest proportion of Apprenticeships in the UK in the 1700s.

It was estimated that one in six men (note, ‘men’ not ‘women’) in England had lived in London at some point in their lives because of the various Apprenticeships available. Thanks to this rich history, the Liveries continue to promote Apprenticeships today through the Livery Companies Apprenticeship Scheme.

Apprenticeships have come a long way since The 1563 Statute of Artificers introduced the medieval craft guilds and the first national Apprenticeship system of training. At this time, Apprenticeships were not always voluntary. Instead, they were often considered a transaction between the parent and the skilled craftsman, who was appointed to teach a person from childhood.

I’m sure current apprentices would be shocked by the conditions in which their predecessors lived and worked, and the restrictions placed on them. They often worked from 5am – 9pm (a bit like being Lord Mayor- only shorter hours). And if undertaking an unregulated Apprenticeship, then training was, at times, non-existent.

There were many more issues of equality, freedom and justice with ancient-Apprenticeships. For example:

The majority of Apprenticeships were filled by boys.

Girls were usually placed in gendered Apprenticeships, such as housewifery.

The Poor Law prevented social mobility, by providing poor children with Apprenticeships in low-status roles.

Meanwhile, boys from more affluent backgrounds received the best training and parents bargained for shorter Apprenticeships.

As a result of these issues and others, the 1802 Health and Morals of Apprentices Act was passed....and, eventually, the original Statute was abolished in 1814. Since then, as you all know, we have seen many more changes.

The heyday of Apprenticeships came in the early twentieth century, with around 340,000 apprentices per year. By the mid-1960s, roughly 35% of male school-leavers aged 15 to 17 went on to do an Apprenticeship. (Indeed, at a recent meeting of twenty top City businessmen, I was astonished to discover that seventeen had started their careers as apprentices.)

However, by 1990 the number of apprentices had dropped to just 53,000. A fall of nearly 300,000 per annum.

At this time, Apprenticeships in the UK differed from European Apprenticeships, due to the lack of final examinations and Government involvement.

However, things were to change, against the backdrop of:

Economic recession in the early 1990’s.

Sharp increase in youth unemployment from 10% to almost 18%.

Concern around skills shortages.

In 1993, the Government announced the creation of Modern Apprenticeships. Modern Apprenticeships ensured that apprentices were viewed as members of the workforce and that they were paid a salary.

Now, I can image that many of us in the audience today may not have been ready for full-time employment at 16 or 17.

With this in mind, the first pre-Apprenticeship programme was introduced – titled “Foundation Modern Apprenticeships”. Intended to open up the Apprenticeship route to a wider selection of young people.

Interestingly, unlike today, the majority of employers of Modern Apprentices were small firms, and there were very few employers with more than five apprentices. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the needs of business were very similar to today: they were keen for potential employees to demonstrate a combination of both work and training. This is what the Foundation Modern Apprentices had hoped to deliver.

Despite these improvements, Modern Apprenticeships were not able to achieve the success of the earlier Pre-modern Apprenticeships. These peaked at just under 200,000 (193,600) in 2003/4, in comparison to 340,000 apprentices per year under the pre-modern system.

This was clearly a disappointment to Government, and they launched The Modern Apprenticeship Taskforce, which aimed to review the issues.

As a result of this, we would see further development and interpretation of Apprenticeships, including:

Renaming Apprenticeships to provide a clear breakdown of the various levels. (eg. Advanced Modern Apprenticeships, Advanced Apprenticeships, Intermediate Apprenticeships)

Widening the age range of Apprenticeships from 16-25 to age 14 plus.

From this point forward, we began to view Apprenticeships not simply as a method of providing introductory training to our young people, but also as a useful means of up-skilling the existing workforce. Enabling those who might wish to change career at a later stage in life, to do so.

As you know, in 2008, the UK entered a recession which resulted in mass job losses. This made the job market extremely competitive, and difficult for young people to enter.

In order to assist young people seeking employment, the ‘Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act’ introduced an Apprenticeship offer which detailed “a duty to provide an Apprenticeship place to all qualified 16 to 19 year olds who did not have one and wanted one.”

Fast forward two years: in 2010 the Government sought to tackle Apprenticeship pay. At the time, the Apprenticeship minimum wage came in at £2.50 per hour! Change was certainly needed. But interestingly, when implementing it, the Government stated: “there is little point in pushing wages up if it means that jobs are no longer available.”

The following year, in 2011, analysis revealed that the median Apprenticeship wage was 25 pence shy of the National minimum wage – which was £6.08 per hour. This was again reflected in the 2014 Apprenticeship Pay Survey.

At this stage, I would like to refer to The City of London Corporation’s “The City’s Business” – which you can find on your seats. One of the issues highlighted in The City’s Business is the cost of an unpaid internship, which was £926 per month in 2014 according to the Sutton Trust – and has since increased.

As a London Living Wage accredited employer, the City of London Corporation pays its apprentices the London Living Wage.....and advocates this wage being rolled out at every level.

Please raise your hand if........you would encourage your child or relative to do an Apprenticeship?

So where are we now? I’m sure a number of you are here today because you have:

Read about the Government’s 3 million Apprenticeship target, to be achieved by the end of 2020.

Viewed recent GET IN, GO FAR adverts on TV and online.

Or....Heard about the upcoming Apprenticeship Levy.

We are in a period of extensive Apprenticeship change. Before becoming Lord Mayor of the City of London, I was appointed to the UK Government’s Apprenticeship Delivery Board. It is a position I hold with pride, and whose important work I am committed to promoting from the Mayoral platform.

In my role as Lord Mayor, I represent financial and professional services across the whole of the UK (not just here in the Square Mile). And when speaking to British businesses, I am often asked “What is the purpose of the Apprenticeship Delivery Board? What are the problems that it aims to solve?”

To answer this, let me reflect on four of the current challenges facing our communities, and our wider society.

First: Youth Unemployment

Since reaching 22.2% in September 2011 – which was the highest percentage of unemployed young people since records began – youth unemployment has been in steady decline. This is great news! But it is not the whole picture...

In some parts of the UK, youth unemployment remains persistently high. And you may be particularly surprised to learn that London, for example, currently has the highest rate of youth unemployment in the UK....at 19.2%.

I mentioned earlier that, in 1993, the Conservative Government implemented a number of measures to assist young people into work when the unemployment rate reached 18%.

Apprenticeships were a core part of these efforts – traditionally used to equip young people with the skills and work experience they need to join the workforce. And Apprenticeships can continue to play a crucial role, in filling this gap.

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) stated in their 2016 Education and Skills Survey, that the skills employers felt young people lacked most, were business and customer awareness. Both of these can only be developed through experience of work, experience which Apprenticeships can provide.

Second challenge: Social Mobility

Back in the 1600s, the Poor Law had the effect of preventing social mobility. Today, research by organisations such as the Social Mobility Commission, reveals that institutionalised prejudice and societal inequality are key factors in preventing social mobility. This presents a real problem for UK businesses: a report by McKinsey & Co states that the more diverse the workforce, the more successful the company.

So a lack of diversity in socio-economic as well as cultural, racial and religious backgrounds, may well be holding businesses back.

Of course, Apprenticeships can be used as a tool to support social mobility – given the fact they are generally offered at a low level, with potential for quick progression. However, this does depends on the employer creating the right opportunities for apprentices to move up through levels of training and employment.

But here’s an important fact for you – listen up!

The earning potential for those with a Level 5 qualification (equivalent to a Foundation Degree), is £50,000 more over a lifetime, than someone with a degree from a non-Russell Group University[1].